Unions hit back on sick leave attack

Trade unions have accused business leaders of anti-public sector
bias for criticising sick leave levels in statutory bodies.

The TUC questioned the validity of Confederation of British
Industry figures showing that public sector employees took on
average 2.7 more sick days than private sector counterparts.

The TUC said the figures reflected the stress of public sector
jobs, which led to greater long-term sickness, and added that
short-term absences were higher in the private sector.

Unison policy officer Ross Hendry said: “I doubt whether
many of those making some of these critical remarks would last a
week in some of our members’ jobs.”